News and Updates

A professor forced into a life of penury plots revenge on the man who took everything from him.

When a grave at the Pioneer Cemetery is robbed, Melisende Dulac sets out to track down the perpetrator and, in the process, solve a century-old mystery.

Some thoughts on humanity’s long-term prospects, and by long-term, I mean REALLY long-term. Probably all nonsense.

Crossroad, a Melisende Dulac mystery, is now available on audiobook from Scribd, narrated by Eleanor Caudill.

On Christmas Eve, a mother is accused of drowning her child, and a shocking discovery forces Melisende Dulac to confront her own ghosts of Christmas past.

News: events in August and September 2021, cat pictures, and hints about what’s in the works.

Join Stacie Murphy, Emmeline Duncan, and me for Escondido Public Library’s Virtual Author Chat on April 15, 2021 at 5:30pm.

During one of her first solo body removal jobs as an apprentice mortician, Melisende Dulac discovers an old man’s sad end may not have been all that natural.

Frank is our new family member—and a bundle of floof and attitude he most certainly is. He’s a rescue cat, about two years old. Beyond that, we don’t know too much about his history. What we do know is he’s spirited and affectionate, though still a little startled by the sudden life change which came about when his […]

A while back I posted about the Pluto Situation, and in that post I mentioned the then forthcoming New Horizons mission. Well, of course, New Horizons has completed its fly-by of the Pluto system, and as I think most of us hoped, we learned lots of amazing things about the once (and possibly future) planet […]

In 1971, days before shipping out to Vietnam, a young Skin Kadash joins his best friend for a “so long to the world” blow-out at a cabin in the mountains, unaware they’re pawns in a murder plot.

Remember when Pluto got reclassified as a dwarf planet? A lot of you do, and a lot of you are very upset about it. It’s been years and you’re still pissed. Quick summary for the five people in existence who don’t know what the Pluto Situation is: for most of our lives, Pluto was the […]

Skin Kadash is thrust into the middle of a decades-long feud between irascible neighbors.

In a darkly comic clash of neighbors over the height of a fence, the solution for one seems to be kidnapping . . . and possibly even murder.

A draft version of a poem that would eventually be included in Property of the State

A brotherhood of cops, a boy accused of murder, and the broken-down detective who broke ranks to sort it all out.

I’m working on a Skin short story at the moment, one which has been on my mind for years. I’ve mentioned the story once or twice in my travels, describing it as Skin’s origin story. The events take place Labor Day weekend 1971, when Skin is 18 years old. Obviously he’s not a homicide detective […]

Three stories of youthful indiscretions: In “Yo, Karl,” a young man’s dark reputation controls his fate. In “The Soul of the Sea” a boy walks a beach full of wonder and despair. In “Best Served Cold,” a grim choice in the heat of the moment has lifelong consequences.

Desperate to see his sick mother who is quarantined upstairs in her room, a boy rebels against the overbearing housekeeper who has been keeping them apart. In the process, he discovers the grim secret behind his mother’s illness.

A short story originally written back in the 80s. It is currently included in the short story collection, Diaries of Misspent Youth.

More than once, people have found their way to hence by putting “how did Skin Kadash get his nickname?” into a search engine. It’s something I’ve explained in the books, but for those who are coming to Skin afresh, I thought I would provide an answer here.

Skin Kadash travels to the Oregon Coast to recover from the events of Day One and finds himself embroiled in strange local doings.

Skin Kadash spends the day with his neighbor and her little boy as police pursue home invaders in a dramatic citywide chase.

A semi-autobiographical story of a boy trying to find a place of his own in a life of constant motion and bursts of violence.

Three stories about the dark side of young love.

When Mom takes up with a fixer-upper, two kids find out what life with an honest-to-goodness outlaw is really all about: the loot.

A mysterious dwarf makes a risky play for the statuesque consort of a drug kingpin in a hardboiled retelling of a classic fairy tale.

Skin Kadash investigates vandalism at a Portland coffee shop with the help of Ruby Jane, and finds more than he bargained for.

Distance is magic – sometimes black, sometimes white. Sometimes a little of both. I see this place or that and I think, I could be from there. Lots of places. I build them up in my mind. Mountains. I like the sensation of driving through mountains late at night, light fog clinging to the bare […]

A cynical and overprotective son tries to save his mother from her own good nature, with violent results.

Sometimes what we see in other people is only a dark reflection of ourselves.

The dreams that come when the sun is white and the air is still and buzzing and my head slips off an old pillow that has fallen into the light These are the dreams that I attend with pleasure. Sometimes fear. I smell languor in the trees beside a torpid lake. Leaves droop on steam-softened […]